Math teacher portrays self as political outsider who has no special interests. He takes no campaign donations, city confirms.

"I don't have any obligations to any politician's viewpoint or to donors," he said. "The way I will vote on the agenda will be in the best interest of the city for the long term."

McEvoy, who's making his second run for council, got into politics over the closure of a beloved bowling alley, Kona Lanes.

"I remember hearing rumors of it getting torn down, but we never thought it would happen," he said. "But it got torn down. I was just so surprised that I didn't hear local officials kicking and screaming. At the time, a whole bunch of my buddies and I said we'd run."

After losing in 2008, he spent his free time attending City Council and Planning Commission meetings. He has become a regular speaker during public comment periods.

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"The first election, I spent a lot of time catching up on the issues," McEvoy said. "This election, I know the issues and the focus is more on the direction of the city and making the city sustainable."

The high school math teacher, who's growing his hair to donate to Locks of Love, an organization that provides hair pieces to children with illnesses resulting in hair loss, said he'll use his degree in mathematics to solve many of the city's issues.

"I don't share the council's viewpoints," he said. "When you have a government, you don't want everyone to have the same viewpoints. I can say with confidence that I'm not going to be out there parroting the others' viewpoints and perspective because I don't share those."

One of McEvoy's issues is how the city is raising fees to close its budget gap.

"The trend is trying to balance the budget by increasing fines and license fees," he said. "They are putting it on the residents' backs. Business license fees, I think, should be on a sliding scale … You don't want to raise them where you're going to scare away businesses or hurt existing businesses."

He said Measure L, the proposed hotel tax increase on the November ballot, is a better way of generating revenue. But he said it's not the only way. In his view, another would be to look at the overall finances of the city to determine how revenue can be generated without only making it the residents' responsibility.